Roca London Gallery will be celebrating World Water Day by hosting a presentation with two speakers from Architecture Sans Frontières UK (ASF-UK) on Wednesday 26 March.The UN’s focus for this year’s World Water Day (22 March) is on raising awareness of the links between water and energy and highlighting the need for solutions that can achieve greater economic and social impacts.
ASF-UK is therefore the ideal charity to help Roca London Gallery mark World Water Day, as the role of water and energy is intrinsic to their work. The charity challenges students and professionals to consider the best methods and practices of working with disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, in order to change the culture of architecture to be more sustainable.
Likewise, Roca works constantly on developing and promoting technologies and initiatives to help protect the environment, through its We Are Water Foundation (www.wearewater.org), aimed at highlighting the role the bathroom industry can take in water saving. The We Are Water Foundation aims to mitigate the negative effects associated with the lack of adequate water resources, raising overall awareness and motivating people to donate funds to be used in relevant projects. This event is organised in collaboration with the Foundation.
The two speakers from ASF-UK will each discuss prevalent issues around this theme. Beatrice De Carli will present ‘Change by Design, Articulating new spatial imaginations’. The talk will explore the importance of strengthening slum communities and engaging citizens in a process of deepening democracy, framing participation as a means to challenge the structural conditions that perpetuate urban poverty and exclusion from urban planning, design and governance.
The second talk, ‘Resilience by Design, Inhabiting fragile territories’ presented by ASF-UK’s Sarah Ernst, will expand on the work the charity has been doing in partnership with SEEDs India within the Himalayan region. The programme specifically addresses disaster risk reduction, recovery preparedness and post-disaster reconstruction. Sarah will explain how ASF-UK critically examined local heritage and vernacular, and how this can inform innovative green technology solutions, which draw on global and local experience to facilitate long-term resilience.
The event takes place from 6.30pm – 8.30pm on Wednesday 26 March at Roca London Gallery. To RSVP visit: http://bit.ly/1gwB9cm.
For more details on World Water Day, visit www.unwater.org/worldwaterday
